Curbing our hunger for media

Q. So, what do you recommend parents do to protect their children from the downside of media exposure?

A. My bias is balance. Talk to your children about what they’re watching. Make sure you are to some degree aware of the possibility of what they’re going to see. And withhold some things, maybe until the weekends when they’re doing well in school, maybe after a certain time at night, maybe limit to a certain time of day. And do a media fast occasionally, so you remember what it’s like to be with other people.

Q. What is a media fast versus a media diet?

A. A media fast is like a food fast. You don’t kill yourself, you just abstain — you may take in juice or water. A diet is sustained consumption, but of a more limited and careful and conscious nature. You don’t want to fast from your job’s requirements. A practical media fast simply means cutting out the seven hours of guilty pleasure that the average American has per day — not the one hour of media that they truly need.